The Fort

The Fort is a restaurant started by the Arnold family in 1963. According to the story told by Holly Arnold Kinney, the proprietress of The Fort, her parents built the house in the early 1960’s because they liked the adobe building style that was common in the area. Their goal at the time was to create a house for their family that was modeled after the Bent‘s Old Fort, a popular landmark. However, the project ran over budget. The bank suggested that the family consider opening a business on the first floor of the house and living in the second floor of the house in order to offset some of the building expenses. Kinney’s parents decided on a whim to open up a restaurant because cooking was something they both knew how to do!

In 1963, the project was finished and the Arnold family opened their award winning restaurant with an emphasis on cuisine of the “early west”. The menu now includes seafood, beef, and wild game like buffalo, elk and quail. In fact, the Fort serves over 80,000 entrees per year of buffalo per year. All of the buffalo, or bison, served at the restaurant is raised in Colorado at ranches along the Rocky Mountains. The restaurant also serves another Denver specialty, Rock Mountain oysters. Parents need not worry about taking their children to dine here however; a kid’s menu is available and sure to please the kids who may not want to try the early west cuisine.

Dinner entrees range in price from $20 to $52. Chef’s specials at times can run slightly over the $52 price range however. For more information on entrees, appetizers, or desserts served at the restaurant, check out the menu online. The restaurant also has a printable menu that can be accessed online. Doors open at 5:30 pm Monday through Friday and at 5 pm on Saturday and Sunday. To make reservations at the restaurant, call 303-697-4771.

The restaurant has a gift shop where visitors can purchase cookbooks and other items including a Sissy bear. Sissy bear was a bear cub adopted by the Arnold family that lived at the restaurant for over a decade.

In addition to the restaurant, Ms. Kinney has a garden which supplies heirloom vegetables, herbs, and other items for the restaurant. She has also opened The Tesoro Cultural Center to help promote the rich cultural heritage of the area. More information can be found about the cultural center at http://www.tesoroculturalcenter.org/

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